Police came to the Rosbalt office in Moscow

In Moscow, criminal investigation officers came to the editorial office of the Rosbalt agency. The agency itself reports this.

“According to the head of the group, who introduced himself as Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Akimov, as part of a certain criminal case they need to inspect one of the workplaces in the Rosbalt office,” they write on the Rosbalt website.

A group of seven security officials blocked the entrance to the office, which is why two planned press conferences were in jeopardy.

The reasons for the visit are not reported to agency employees.

UPD 12:20 The search at the editorial office is related to a criminal case initiated in December 2018 due to publications allegedly defaming the honor of businessman Alisher Usmanov. “Moscow Speaks” writes about this with reference to the agency’s editor-in-chief Nikolai Ulyanov.

“I still can’t understand whether we are the main defendants in this case or whether we are somehow on the sidelines,” he noted.

The police seized the hard drive from the computer of one of the journalists and also asked for passwords to all other computers in the editorial office. “Most likely, we will agree to this, otherwise they will seize hard drives from all computers, and this will completely paralyze the work of the editorial office,” Ulyanov said.

As noted by the Fortanga ORG telegram channel, a press conference “Socio-political crisis in Ingushetia” was to be held at the Rosbalt press center, dedicated to the protests in the republic and the persecution of protest participants.